Back In Past

On December 29, 1789, Tipu Sultan marched 14,000 troops from Coimbatore and attacked Nedumkotta. The first phase was a defeat for Tipu when the Travancore forces under Kesava Pillai inflicted severe losses on the Tipu forces and drove them back. While the Mysorean forces and their allies regrouped, Governor Holland, much to Cornwallis' dismay, engaged in negotiations with Tipu rather than mobilizing the military. Cornwallis was on the brink of going to Madras to take command when he received word that John Holland's replacement, General William Medows, was about to arrive. Many people fled to Travancore, a state independent of Mysore, and to Cochin, a state paying tribute to Tipu, in the wake of his advance. Medows forcibly removed Holland and set about planning operations against Tipu while building up troops at Trichinopoly.

The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas were already alarmed at the rising power of Tipu and viewed it as a danger to their power. This resulted in a Triple Alliance between the Marathas, the Nizam, and the British against Tipu in 1790. Thus began the Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792).

On September 2, Tipu left Srirangapatnam at the head of a 40,000-man army. Descending the mountain passes beginning on September 9, he began to move toward Sathyamangalam. While the 2,800-man garrison there withstood an initial assault from Tipu's force on September 13, Captain John Floyd, the garrison commander, opted to withdraw. Under cover of night, they crossed the Bhavani and headed for Coimbatore. Tipu, slowed by heavy rains, sent 15,000 cavalry in pursuit. They eventually caught up with and captured much of Floyd's baggage train and continued to pursue the weary garrison. That evening, the full force of Tipu's army fell upon them as they camped at Cheyoor. A desperate stand by the infantry repulsed repeated assaults, and only the arrival of reinforcements sent by Medows rescued them.

Tipu then embarked on a campaign of harassing the British supply lines and communications while screening the movements of his main force. In early November, he successfully misled Medows, moving much of his army north to attack the smaller Bengal force. This force, about 9,000 men led by Colonel Maxwell, had reached Kaveripattinam and strongly fortified his position. Unable to penetrate the defenses, Tipu withdrew to the south on November 14th after learning that Medows was on his trail again. On November 17, Medows and Maxwell joined forces and pursued Tipu, who had decided to make a move toward Trichinopoly. Unable to do more than pillage the town before Medows arrived, Tipu then moved on to rampage through the Carnatic, destroying towns and seizing supplies as he went. He ended up at the French outpost at Pondicherry, where he attempted to interest the French in supporting his efforts against the British. As France was then in the early stages of its revolution, these efforts were entirely unsuccessful. Medows at this point moved toward Madras, where he turned over command of his army to Lord Cornwallis.

On January 25, 1792, Sir Cornwallis moved from Savendroog toward Seringapatam, while Abercromby again advanced from the Malabar Coast. While Tipu's men harassed the column, they did not impede its progress. Cornwallis established a chain of outposts to protect the supply line from Bangalore. Two rocket units were fielded by Tipu Sultan during the war, one of 120 men and the other of 131 men. When the massive army reached the plains of Seringapatam on February 5, Tipu began showering the force with rockets. Cornwallis responded with a nighttime attack to dislodge Tipu from his lines. After a somewhat confused battle, Tipu's forces were flanked, and he retreated into the city, where Cornwallis began siege operations. On February 12, Abercromby arrived with the Bombay army, and the noose began to tighten around Tipu. On February 23, Tipu began making overtures for peace talks, and hostilities were suspended the next day when he agreed to preliminary terms.